


Any Port in a Storm

by Archangel_Beth



Series: Vulcan Alliance Timeline [2]
Category: Star Trek Online
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Gen, Occasional Easter Eggs, One (1) Reman, Original characters (almost) all the way down, Rihannsu, Romulans, Vulcans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:54:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 18,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24801187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Archangel_Beth/pseuds/Archangel_Beth
Summary: In a different timeline, Q is up to his usual tricks — shanghaiing starship commanders into life-or-death games that may have an ulterior purpose. (Or may not. Who can tell?)Some starship commanders take this with better grace than others.
Series: Vulcan Alliance Timeline [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1793815
Comments: 32
Kudos: 7





	1. Notes and Prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sith_shenanigans](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sith_shenanigans/gifts).



* * *

_If you are reading this on an app with in-app purchases or subscriptions, know that this story is available at https://archiveofourown.org/users/Archangel_Beth , and Archive Of Our Own ("AO3") permits epub downloads; I like the Marvin app for iOS; small one-time fee, and lovely by-author sorting. If you have paid money for this story, you have been cheated._

* * *

### A Note on Names and Words

"Arrhae," the name of a main character from _The Romulan Way_ , is said to be a common name among the Rihannsu people. The translation in the back of that book may be more succinctly summed up as: "...is not being paid enough for this _hnaev_."

Many Rihannsu words are derived from the library at the Imperial Romulan Language Institute (rehan.org/drupal), which is now only found at the Wayback Machine. When I couldn't find something there, I made up a new word, as is the way of the Fanficcer.

* * *

# The VA Timeline

_New timelines pop up, and are often destroyed, on a regular basis. One need not consider how this one might have come to be — at least, not yet._

When humanity achieved warp capabilities, the Vulcans — desperate for allies in their war with the Andorians — contacted them, and offered an alliance. This would prove fruitful; when the Andorians made an aggressive push, many years later, and successfully blockaded the Vulcan homeworld, Earth was able to become a home to millions of refugee Vulcans, who settled in the more extreme environments of the planet. Vulcan itself remains blockaded, but not invaded; the rest of the population is cut off from space, and any technology large enough to be bombed from orbit, but the Andorians refuse to risk troops trying to pacify their ancient enemies.

Besides, the Vulcan Alliance might invade _them_ if they weren't careful. And, of course, the Romulan Star Empire is always willing to pick up a few unguarded systems of interest...

Now, Alpha (and some of Beta) Quadrant has three main powers:

• **The Vulcan Alliance.** Vulcan captains and primarily human crews, with a smattering of other species with whom they have friendly relations, such as refugee Bajorans.

• **The Andorian Coalition.** Primarily Andorians, with a large contingent of Catians and Ferasan (the first of those to try to leave the Coalition would, naturally, lose the protection of Andoria...), and a smattering of other species.

• **The Saeihr'shiar ch'Rihanh** (aka Romulan Star Empire). Primarily Rihannsu (Romulan); Havranha (Reman); their main client species, Tlhhyngan (tlhIngan, or Klingons); and Turkanan humans.

Lesser powers include the Tellarite-Ferengi association, the Orion Syndicate, Nausicaan pirates, the distant Cardassian Union, etc.

_In any case, it should always be remembered that when a new timeline is created, so is its history..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _(If every Pern book can start with the same prologue, then so can these stories.)_


	2. Nhraikhumædet Kivoi Rhill'le

* * *

"Good morning, _mademoiselle_."

T'Solos opened her eyes. Her room's lighting was fading into day-shift brightness, so at least she could see clearly. On the other side of the netting that protected her narrow bunk in case of gravitational disruption, there was a pale-skinned human male, reclining on one elbow atop an extension to the bunk that had not been there when T'Solos went to sleep. The high forehead and thin mouth were very recognizable, even if he wasn't wearing some strange red-and-black mutation of a Vulcan Alliance uniform.

"Greetings, creature of Air and mischief," T'Solos said politely. "Someday, you will surprise some mere mortal whose reflexes outpace your own, and we will all discover if you are vulnerable to disintegration."

"Oh, _mademoiselle_ riov," the man — energy being, really — said through a pout. "The fabled Romulan hospitality surely requires more civility than that."

"If you would care to knock at a door to the ship, Kew," T'Solos said, stretching her shoulders upwards a little as she sat up, "standing orders are to grant you all courtesy and hospitality, yes. However, once you have appeared in my quarters, some informality should be expected."

"Oh, I suppose you're right," he said, and rolled off the bunk-extension to stand. The furniture vanished in a quick flash of light.

T'Solos unhooked the netting — it wouldn't help against the unpleasantly powerful troublemaker — and swung her legs out so she could also stand up, in undershirt and sleep-shorts. Ignoring Kew, she turned to the shelves above her bunk, where the outer clothes were.

"Oh, you're going to take forever," Kew complained. The white light blanked out T'Solos' sight for a moment, then receded.

She looked down at herself, rolled her shoulders in the tunic, and flexed her toes in the thigh-high boots she was now wearing. Good; he'd merely dressed her in her own clothes, rather than fabricating something from Kew-continuum energies or whatever it was he did. "I suppose you are here on a matter of import, rather than a social call?"

"Well, _you_ probably think it's important..." He shrugged, the motion exaggerated as many of his were, while restlessly wandering around her room's desk.

"Then thanks mine, for the early warning," she replied. While her rank-harness was present, her weapons-belt had _not_ been transported around her waist; she removed it from its stand, scabbard and holster both full and fastened securely.

"Oh, you're welcome!" Kew said, apparently pleased. "You really are much more polite than Captain T'nae — and honestly, you'd think I'd personally offended that Picard fellow. _They'd_ have been demanding more information by now!"

"Your flattery is appreciated, Kew," she said, hooking the belt around her. Either he would elaborate, or he would not; Air could not be pinned down. "Shall we go to the bridge, or have you other appointments?"

"I suppose I do," he said. "But you're right. You should go to the bridge right away." He waved his hand, and the white light stole her vision again, with the sound of a gust of air.

As she'd expected, she blinked her eyes open to see _Kinaen_ 's bridge, with various of her officers gaping at her.

"It's that _Kew_ entity," she explained into their startled expressions. "Something's about to happen. Erei'riov?"

Her subcommander, Khif tr'Vrihahan, stood up from the command chair. "All's seemed quiet, sir, till just now. Some star-noise, and then we caught a signal — Vulcan Alliance frequencies, but we've not broken the encryption yet."

"Star-noise?" Hunch and paranoia flashed within her like one of Kew's light-effects. She ordered, "De-cloak! Shields up! Full scan of the area."

The lights brightened as the cloak dropped, and consoles made soft noises to indicate their responsiveness as the shields snapped into existence.

"Sir?" Khif said — and then Sensors hissed, "Fvadt! _Hwi'a! _"__

That slurred _grab!_ was mirror to her hunch; T'Solos looped her arm into one of the command-chair's safety straps, not bothering to sit down. Khif grabbed for the other, and _Kinaen_ lurched and shuddered, gravity unable to compensate for the changes in momentum that tossed him about.

"Ion storm!" the Sensors officer called, and at the conn, pilot t'Rada said, "Running!"

"Damage?" T'Solos demanded, climbing back to her feet as _Kinaen_ 's bucking settled to lesser turbulence-effects, then swinging herself into the chair. Khif stayed clinging to the chair's other arm, down on one knee and clearly mistrusting the situation.

It was a Reman erein, new to the ship, who replied. Rilihka, T'Solos recalled. Credit to the erein, her voice didn't shake. "Minimal, Riov — the shields got up in time."

"Good. What heading?"

At the conn, t'Rada said, "Away from the stormfront, Riov!"

Sensors — tr'Demha, that was — clarified. "We've gone off our original heading, sir. Five to starboard and down." He frowned at his console. "We're heading towards the source of that transmission."

T'Solos frowned too. "Look for something that can shield us. I'd prefer not to cross paths with the Alliance while we're both trying to outrun this."

"Ie, Riov."

T'Solos went on: "Communications?"

"Sir!" And _that_ was Aedith ir-Turkana t'Dansen, Turkanan human and linguist with skills equal to T'Solos' own. (And who would probably surpass them, for that matter, as t'Dansen's specialization let her practice and learn more.)

"Broadcast, in Terran human, a warning of the coming storm. Unencrypted, Vulcan Alliance channels."

"Ie, sir!"

With all that sorted, and Khif picking himself up, T'Solos was about to open a ship-wide comm and explain the situation — when tr'Demha said, "Riov... The ion storm is gaining on us. And it's a bad one. It won't be dissipating for days, I think. And it will catch up in a few hours."

"Well." A few days of trying to ride out an ion storm, natural or artificial, was not something T'Solos wanted to do. "Continue on as swiftly as possible, t'Rada. Tr'Demha, look for a place we might find shelter. And t'Dansen, add the storm's speed to our transmission."

As they murmured or stated their acknowledgements, T'Solos flipped the communication switch to address the ship: "Crew mine, we are not under attack, save by a storm. It outpaces us, though we have some few hours. Secure the ship and make preparations, in case we cannot find shelter."

That done, she looked soberly up at Khif. To his grim expression, she said, "Secure your quarters and get a nap, Erei'riov."

"Ie, Riov," he said, with a careful bow, and hastened to the lift, staggering as the stormfront's leading edge jostled _Kinaen_ erratically.

T'Solos threaded her arms into the chair's safety straps and frowned at the viewscreen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Allegedly, Rihan does not have a "Q" sound. It's got K, E, and W, though!


	3. Jolan'tru, Enterprise

* * *

After two of those few hours, _Kinaen_ was jolting and bucking more unpleasantly, and Rilihka was reporting structural stresses. Shields continued to hold, mostly intact, but T'Solos had called for the more experienced pilot, T'Maekh, to come to the bridge and be ready. If they _did_ have to try to weather the storm, it would need a rotation of all the best pilots.

It brought back memories of other dire pursuits, and T'Solos thinned her lips. A storm could not be baffled with clever remarks.

With that thought, she began pulling up files. _Aenhta'daetfv_ — Slingshot Maneuver, in Terran. Time travel was never a good idea, but if they could skip a few days of ion storm, it might be worth the risk.

Tr'Demha interrupted her research. "Riov, I think I have a shelter identified!"

"Ta'rhae," she replied, looking to the main viewscreen.

The requested imagery appeared: coordinates and a simulated wireframe to indicate their rough positions. "It's class el'isendt'emnaae, tightly orbiting its star." The wireframe zoomed in on a star-planet pair, with numbers showing the true distance between them. "We should be able to get there while we're still only within the fringes of the storm front."

"Are we going to cook if we take shelter in that magnetic field?"

"I don't think so, sir." The wireframe zoomed in again, now showing a moon between the gas supergiant and its star. "It's a little hard to tell, but I think if we get between the planet and this moon, we should be able to use the moon to shield us from the star. It's well within the isendt'emnaaen magnetic field. We might have to maneuver a little, depending on the speed of the moon's orbit."

"Good work. T'Maekh, lay in the course for t'Rada," T'Solos paused, considering her next impulse, then said, "T'Dansen, add the coordinates for that planet to the broadcast, as a possible shelter."

"Ie, sir," the human woman said.

T'Maekh had the seniority — and brashness — to ask, "We want to tell Vulcan Alliance where to hide out, Riov?"

T'Solos discreetly petted her chair, reassuring _Kinaen_ that he wouldn't have to bear the brunt of an ion storm. "I woke up to the Kew entity giving cryptic warnings, and he spoke of the _Enterprise_ 's commander as less polite, before depositing me on the bridge with unseemly haste. He has always been more fascinated by the Vulcan Alliance's ships. Best we please him by aiding his favorites, and hope he does his pleasure on _them_ , afterwards."

T'Maekh hung her head over the back of her chair, despite the bumpy ride. "Elements, Riov. Do you think he warned us just because some Vulcan wouldn't take his hints?"

"Or he punishes some Alliance ship for being curt with him, by creating this storm and forcing their gratitude to us." She shrugged. "He is Air and mischief. We can only be alert to his clues, and hope we ride out _that_ storm."

Her chief pilot's groan mirrored T'Solos' own internal one. "I don't _like_ being a Kew toy!"

"At least we do not crew _Enterprise_ ," T'Solos said, "and thus we know far more of Kew from spy reports than experience."

The reflection carried them all for a time in silent gratitude. T'Solos continued to skim the files on Aenhta'daetfv, in case they would need to bend spacetime after all. T'Rada turned over the piloting to T'Maekh. Young Rilihka was offered a shift-change, but the pair of engineering ereinir determined that, with a stimulant ready should she flag, her replacement's skills were better-suited to keeping _Kinaen_ 's systems running, rather than mostly reporting on those systems and adjusting the shields. T'Solos approved their decision, and Rilihka stayed.

T'Dansen took her shift-change shortly after, though T'Solos caught some suggestions that prime-shift communications officer was to wake her if anything interesting (i.e., something that spoke words) turned up.

Tr'Demha ceded the main Sensors console to his replacement, grey-haired Vaesahn, but stayed kneeling beside her, murmuring explanations as he steadied himself on her chair.

_Kinaen_ 's storm-jitters slowly increased, from the occasional turbulence that had predominated once t'Rada had gotten them into full motion, to jolts and bucks that had everyone strapping in — except tr'Demha — lest they be thrown to the floor or smacked face-first into their own console.

T'Solos began requesting data from the computers (rather than her Sensors officers) for the stars along the way, in case they needed to try to slingshot around any of them. Filling those numbers into the equations was a better use of her time than fretting helplessly.

Behind her, Vaesahn said, "That's odd."

"Report?" T'Solos asked.

"The moon on that el'isendt'emnaae. It's synched with the planet's terrifyingly short orbit. It's _always_ between the sun and the planet."

T'Solos craned her neck to look at the pair of sensor officers. "Is it dangerous or helpful?"

"Helpful, sir," Vaesahn said.

She returned to a safer position on her chair. "Then we thank the Elements, and remain alert for Precursor nonsense that might linger."

That produced a chorus of _Ie, sir!_ from the crew, with T'Maekh adding a snicker.

=====

_Kinaen_ burst through the planetary magnetic field in a tumbling spin, his engines shrieking as they cut down to fractional warp before dropping back into normal space. Behind them, the ion storm was a maelstrom of false-color, and ahead...

T'Maekh brought the spinning under control and drifted towards the midpoint between planet and moon, aligned with neither's poles.

T'Solos didn't argue. Instead she released her ivory-knuckled grip on one harness strap and patted her command chair. _Well done, ship mine._

"Riov, shall we cloak?" Rilihka asked.

She would have liked to, for being unseen and watchful was generally all to the advantage. However... "No. Anything already here will have seen us come in, and if we do get an Alliance ship — or a Coalition one — they'll be less trigger-twitchy if they can see we're already here. And... I would like our shields remaining up."

"Understood, sir."

Behind her, Vaesahn said, "Elements!" Then, no doubt anticipating everyone, the main viewscreen magnified the space between moon and planet.

There was an object there. Little numbers proclaimed it the mass of a large dreadnought ship. Shape... was as if someone had slotted snowflakes together to make something vaguely spherical, then rounded all their edges. Most of the structure was darkly opaque, but the planet reflected enough light to shine off what were likely transparent struts or even giant passages between the opaque parts.

Vaesahn added, "If scans are correct, it's holding position there, stably, just like the planet and moon are stable."

Because of course it was. "T'Maekh, get us securely within the magnetic field so a storm surge doesn't rattle us, then pause. Enarrain," T'Solos said to the young man at Communications, "wait for our stopping, then hail them, if they don't hail us first."

"We're not being scanned," Vaesahn said.

"We'll hail them before we do any detailed scans ourselves," T'Solos instructed. "If there's anyone there for noticing us, and they haven't yet, we should introduce ourselves before we start sniffing them over like nosy epohhir."

T'Maekh said, "Stopping here, Riov."

"Hailing," said Communications.

They waited.

"Nothing, sir. Trying on more bands." Another pause, while everyone held back comments, lest they speak when the strange station was replying. The enarrain said, "Still nothing. I sent a radio signal, but it'll be some minutes before it gets there."

"I suppose we might as well start scanning on the higher bands, then," T'Solos said. "Vae—"

She broke off as another ship careened out of the storm, from the opposite side of the sheltered area between planet and moon. Vaesahn moved the station to a lower corner of the viewscreen and focused in on the starship.

The rounded disc and nacelles were immediately recognizable as Vulcan Alliance, even though one of those nacelles was leaking both plasma and little explosions from along its length. The ship's name was painted in a curve along the width of the disc, and she and Communications spoke at the same time.

" _Enterprise_."

There was a faint noise behind her, and the impression of a flicker of light. A pair of elbows rested against the back of her chair. Above her head, Kew said, "Oh, look, they made it!"

Blocking anyone's reaction (beyond muffled exclamations and curses), T'Solos said, "Indeed. Vaesahn, scan the other ship. Tr'Demha, scan the station in the bands that it seems to have been ignoring." She knew that the energy being was getting furtive looks and outright stares from her bridge crew, but so long as she didn't show emotion, they'd hopefully not overreact.

And so long as no one made a hostile move, Kew was _likely_ to be annoying instead of fatal.

On the viewscreen, _Enterprise_ 's nacelle seemed to be mostly done exploding, and was merely venting plasma in a greenish trail. Assessments wrote themselves down one edge of the screen, and then Vaesahn said, "They've raised shields, Riov."

"Time to hail them, I suppose. Or answer?"

"Answering, sir," Communications reported.

"Ta'rhae."

It wasn't the first time that _Kinaen_ and _Enterprise_ had exchanged glimpses of each other's interiors. For an interesting change, the sleek Alliance ship's bridge was not showing much beyond its riov — captain, rather — and there seemed a certain smokiness in the air that hinted at exploded consoles, as well as blackish grime on normally-white Alliance uniforms.

Primly, the dark-skinned Vulcan woman said, "This is Captain T'nae of..." She paused as she took in the view from her own screen, and let out air through her nose. "I see."

"Greetings, kinswoman," T'Solos said. "I hope all is well with you?"

T'nae's flat stare indicated that obviously, all was not well with her. Her ship was damaged, she was being greeted by the Romulan Empress' own blade, and Kew — from the jiggling of T'Solos' seatback — was waving at her.

Eventually, the Vulcan said, "Riov T'Solos. Your shields are up."

As were _Enterprise_ 's, but never mind that. T'Solos gestured to the side, to indicate where the station floated. "We have not yet made contact with these strangers, though we are using their magnetic field as our storm-shield. It is ill-luck, presuming hospitality of strangers, as they might not think it ill-luck if they withhold it."

"One might suspect Romulans of preparing to seize 'hospitality.'"

"One might be a prejudiced Vulcan and do so, I suppose," T'Solos replied. "We are far from home, and a storm rages outside."

T'nae's lips tightened fractionally. "I see. My apologies."

Behind T'Solos, Kew straightened up. "Oh, you're being so _polite_ at each other!" he crowed. "I just knew you'd be friends one day."

T'Solos rolled her eyes, and said — somehow in ragged unison with _Enterprise_ 's captain — "Not today."

"Oh, but you could go to _parties_ together! Play _games_!"

Oh, fvadt. "Games," T'Solos said, "that do not need very many people, if you would."

"Now see?" Kew said, beaming as he stepped around T'Solos' chair and gestured at her with both hands. " _She_ understands me."

And the world flashed white.


	4. Na Brisaerai Shhii'delarius

* * *

T'Solos blinked her eyes open into darkness, with exclamations from at least some of her crew in her ears. She was standing now, in a gravity slightly lighter than _Kinaen_ 's. The lights faded on — gray and wan, with a distortion as if they shone through water.

It was enough to see a pair of half-circle console units looming ahead, and beyond those, at the other end of the room...

T'nae took a step forwards from her small group, lifted her arm, and bumped her hand into a forcefield that rippled white light outward from the impact. Voice clipped, the Vulcan said, "What are you up to with Kew?"

T'Solos put her hands behind her back and surveyed the room as if she was only mildly curious. "Up to?" she repeated in Terran, noting darkened, glassy squares that might be viewscreens of some kind, and button-based control panels near each of them.

"He was on your ship."

Only because there was no way to fumigate for Kews. Best not to say that, despite the potential to confuse the Vulcan Alliance crew behind T'nae. Kew might be listening. "He implied he had been on yours, earlier, but you had ignored his advice most excellent."

"He does not _give_ advice. He makes irrelevant comments."

T'Solos arched an eyebrow. "Rha," she said, flatter than the usual sarcastic _oh really_ that the Vulcan woman's statement deserved. "I have found always wisdom in his words."

In the customary flash, Kew appeared in the space between those half-arc consoles, leaning on one. "Oh, now you're just flattering me," he said.

T'Solos gave a slight bow, though without her fist to shoulder in salute. T'nae said, coldly, "Kew. What _is_ the meaning of this."

Kew straightened to gesture around. "Well! You're going to be here a while, what with the storm and all, so I thought you might enjoy a little game! A pastime. An entertainment!"

Beyond T'nae, one of her crew — probably human — dropped her forehead into her hands. T'Solos took a moment to glance around and behind herself.

Three of her own crew were present: Khif, Rilihka, and t'Dansen. With luck, Vaesahn had been left on _Kinaen_ 's bridge; the elder Sensors officer was level-headed.

Her own resources identified, T'Solos squinted past the expositing Kew. T'nae and three others — one human, one Vulcan, and if the earring was any indication, a Bajoran. They were all annoyingly tall.

"Return us to our ship, Kew," T'nae was instructing, with the patience of an impatient Vulcan. "We are not going to indulge your sadistic whims."

"Oh, but it's such a _good_ game!" Kew said. "I'm sure our _mademoiselle_ riov agrees with me."

T'Solos contrived to look pleasant and mild of expression as Kew spun around to meet her gaze. She said, "Might we know the rules, creature of Air and mischief?"

"Seeeeee?" Kew said, gesturing at her as he looked back over his shoulder.

T'nae did not look convinced.

With a pout in his voice, the energy being said, "Well, _fine_." He waved his hand, light flashed, and the two half-arc consoles lit up. Holograms appeared above each one: _Enterprise_ to one side, and _Kinaen_ to the other. Kew continued, "It's very straightforward. Both your ships are now caught in tractor beams! The first captain to release her ship is the winner. It's simple!"

It would not be simple, T'Solos suspected. She asked, "Is there a time-limit?"

Kew waved a hand. "Oh, no need for that. There's not that much food and water on this station, after all!"

Fvadt. Better than a hard limit, at least. And hopefully better than Kew removing the forcefields that kept Star Empire and Alliance crew from approaching — or shooting at — each other, and telling them to have a brawl right there.

"This," T'nae said, "is ridic—"

Her words cut off in yet another of the white flashes, to T'solos' annoyance. She had wanted to ask if there was anything else they should know.

The wavering, watery light flickered on, showing them to be in a room that was bare of all but a few storage crates. All were covered in dust and one was cracked, with a desiccated leak staining the ground around it.

"Ataen-imirrhlhhseri Vulcans," t'Dansen muttered.

T'Solos stifled a smile down to a lip-twitch. A Turkanan human in Fleet wouldn't be an Alliance sympathizer, but the assignment of blame was still gratifying. In her most pedantic tone, she said, "It does seem T'nae's approach is counterproductive, yes. Are you all well? Erei'riov, did you get any sleep?"

Her subcommander sighed. "Little, Riov." He touched his belt-pouch. "I have stimulants."

"Same," t'Dansen said. "And a ration bar."

Rilihka said, "I already used my stim, sir. I've got an empty hypo."

"Mm." T'Solos unfastened the base of one of her uniform's shoulder-points and extracted a small packet from the hidden pocket. She offered it to the Turkanan. "Soft candies. Not water, but more moisture than the ration bar. You carry them." Though generations had separated Vulcans and Rihannsu into distinct sub-species, they could still go without water longer than a human could.

"Ie, sir." T'Dansen tucked the packet into her own shoulder-pocket. She offered up the ration bar in return, but T'Solos waved it off to Khif, who had the largest belt-pouch.

A visual once-over was enough to know that they all had side-arms, plus T'Solos' sword. She knew Khif had a dagger somewhere in his uniform — probably up a sleeve, or in a spine-sheath, for his boots weren't as tall as hers. "I don't suppose anyone has a tricorder tucked away? Or some other scanner?"

Her crew shook their heads. T'Solos sighed. "As I feared. Well, let us proceed. I wager the control room we were in lies in the center of this station, and that we now stand at one of the outer points. If anyone has reason for believing otherwise, please say so. In the meantime..." She pointed at the solitary exit to the room. "We should find out if the door is trapped, locked, or has vacuum on the other side."

Rilihka said, "Vacuum, sir?"

"Probably not," T'Solos replied. "It would bore Kew if we expired so quickly."

"Reassuring, sir," Khif muttered, and approached the door.

It slid open, and the uncertain lighting flickered on along the corridor on the other side.

T'Solos said, "I do hope the inhabitants of this station were peaceful and un-suspicious." With a hand on her undrawn pistol, she strode forward.

=====

Two hours later, hacking through another group of strange robotic attackers with her sword, T'Solos had probably taught t'Dansen at least five new curses in assorted languages.

Khif kicked his assailant — this batch were barely knee high to him — and it stumbled into the snapping claws of the one T'Solos was beating away from Rilihka. She used the brief entanglement to reverse her sword-grip and stab down into the central casing.

The armor of these devices had not withstood time's caress; the swordpoint broke through, spraying shattered rotten plastics all about. The thing flailed in one last, almost biological death-shudder, then flopped down. The one Khif had kicked tried to decide whether to fight T'Solos (closer and trying to get her sword un-wedged from its companion) or Khif (original target and kicker of robots), and t'Dansen got it in the side with her plasma pistol.

As that seemed to be the last of them, T'Solos said mildly, "Well shot." She pulled her blade free and examined it, to make sure it wasn't damaged overmuch.

"Apologies, sir," t'Dansen said. "I know I should save the power-cell."

"If we can get something that would function as a club..." Khif grumbled. He yanked at the claw of the one t'Dansen had shot; the casing crumbled in his grasp, flaking away to reveal a mess of wiring and tubes that flopped uselessly.

"Mm," T'Solos said, in agreement. "They've all been... unhelpful."

The first group of three robots had been spindly things, like ambulatory broomsticks with knife-bladed arms — swift, but fragile. That had been where Rilihka had gotten her arm wounded, though, and T'Solos was quietly worried about poison.

The second batch had been actual spheres, waist-high on T'Solos, that attempted to simply plow them down. Those had required shooting to dispose of.

Rilihka was prodding with her good hand at the first-downed of this latest batch. She'd clawed the casing off the top, and picked at the legs. "It's an actual exoskeleton on this one, sir," she reported. "The plastic shell gives it the structure. Inside, it's just a mess of wires, and they're all fastened very securely."

Khif growled, "This seems deliberate."

"Mm," T'Solos agreed again. "Rilihka, how's the wound?"

"Clotted still, sir. And hurts still, but no worse than I'd expect." Rilihka, despite her attempt at matter-of-factness, likely was thinking of poisons, too. Or even just infections. She added, changing the subject, "And _none_ of the robots has seemed to share a design aesthetic with the station, or each other."

"This suggests they were brought in, either by Kew or because the station was once a trade-hub for violent robots. It doesn't look Orion, though..." T'Solos considered the room and the doors that exited it. "Suggestions?"

"Down-ramps haven't failed us yet, Riov," t'Dansen said, rubbing strands of light brown hair back from her face. Her curls defied a military haircut, especially after exertion.

"We could try going parallel," Rilihka said. "And see if Kew bothered to put hazards along that route, or just the ones that lead back to the control room. But it would waste time."

"We could split up," Khif said.

"I very much dislike that idea, Erei'riov tr'Vrihahan, as I have the last two times it has been suggested," T'Solos told him. "We can't reach our ship on our communicators. Yes, we can contact each other with only a door between. I am still betting my chains of cash that Kew would make that fail as soon as it would be inconvenient."

Khif clenched his hands into fists and looked away. After a moment, he said, "Apologies mine, Riov. I dislike..." He took another breath. "I don't know how you bear that one's attention so calmly."

Long practice. At least Kew had never given her a concussion and bid her perform impossible tasks afterwards. "Railing against such things helps nothing." She rubbed her smooth forehead. "And I was called 'Yyaio' enough by classmates. Flying into rages wouldn't have helped, and would only have let them control me thereby." And thus she had practiced a "dead-soul" stare, perhaps with arched, disdainful eyebrows, and begun to transcribe her clan-name in the same ways a Vulcan would transcribe her own name.

If they were going to call her a dead-souled Vulcan, they might as well deal with her acting like one, and become unnerved from it.

Rilihka stood. "Nothing that I can salvage from these robots, sir. Downhill?"

"Ie. Same procedure."

The procedure was to go to a door, see if it opened, and then use a flimsy, stick-like "leg" from one of the first robots to determine if the door had any knife-edges that would slam shut on a person intending to pass through. Assuming not, they quickly divided into two groups: the first scanning to determine if there were any threats that would require _retreat_ , and the second holding the door open by standing there with weapon and robot-leg, and guarded against attack from behind.

As with all the other times, it seemed to be overkill. T'Solos was not willing to become complacent. Their paranoia would either amuse Kew, or else he would appear and tell them they could dispense with it. (She was hoping the latter.)


	5. Ssuaheahaiin

* * *

After a long, empty down-ramp, they fought through two more trios of robots, one group to each side of a door. The ones in the room before that door were humanoids, slow and clumsy, but with formidable strength as they raised their arms; their dented, rusted armor was strong enough to require plasma bolts to take them down. On the other side, the creatures were upright cylinders on treads, gouting flames from a fixed nozzle in front. They ran into walls if one dodged at the right time, but the best part of that had been when they _ran out of fuel_ and could be slammed into and tipped over.

The back half of Khif's hair was a loss, though, and while the actual burns were milder than he had any right to've gotten, trying to lead those robots into burning each other, he was still going to need a buzz-cut when they got out of this mess.

And then they came to an empty room where down-ramps... weren't.

Ice frosted the edges of that door, and a thin breeze stirred past T'Solos ears, prickling the points. "Don't go near that," she said. "There's vacuum on the other side and it might yet open if we approach."

Everyone, gratifyingly, all but plastered themselves to the farther wall.

"I guess we go sideways this time, Riov?" Rilihka said, hand over the rough-bandaged spot on her other arm. (T'Solos' undershirt hem had been the sacrifice, and a pale enough gray that the Reman's blood showed dark emerald where it'd seeped before being staunched.)

"Or back." She stepped back towards the door behind them.

She really wasn't surprised when it didn't open. Still, she tapped on it, then gave the glassy panel in its center a poke and even a full palm-contact. Nothing. Resigned, she said, "Or not back."

T'Dansen moved to the door to the right. It slid open into... near darkness, as only a few of the flickering lights wakened in the hallway beyond. Khif edged over to the left, and the revealed corridor was immediately as bright as this station got.

This was almost certainly a decision-point. True, the darker one might indicate further damage, and be a dead end. But then again... "Rilihka, how well can you see in that corridor?" T'Solos pointed to the right.

The Reman moved a little closer. "I can guide us, Riov."

"Then let's go that way. We wouldn't want to _always_ play it safe."

"Ie, Riov," Khif said, and brought up the rear as they slipped into the darker, chillier hall.

He did test the door behind them, though, after they'd all gone through. It flashed the watery gray light around its edges — but when he touched the glassy plate, it opened.

T'Solos was glad Khif wasn't becoming more restive; she had three erei'riovir, one for each of her off-shifts. Khif was the junior-ranking of the three, whose shift ended just as hers began, and he was ambitious. He'd never hold _Kinaen_ 's command chair whilst she lived, but the experience could give him a greater chance at a senior erei'riov spot on a large warbird, or a riov's chair on a small T'Varo.

T'Solos was always wary of the ambitious, though; if their ambitions were to _themselves_ too much more than to the Star Empire, they might... make certain over-reaching mistakes. In the case of Khif tr'Vrihahan, that over-reach might come from trying to impress her with his bravery and luck. Or this might be a tempering experience, that would make him a better riov someday, if they all lived.

She would have to continue to be a good example.

The dark "sideways" hallway curved slightly, T'Solos thought — though it might've been her imagination, in the deep and pallid twilight. Rilihka had pushed back her hood, revealing the impressive sweep of her Reman ears. Better light would have revealed the ridging along their edges, but in better light, the hood would have stayed on, to shade her eyes.

Reman ears were keen, too; Rilihka, leading, put out a hand as they approached a particularly dark crossway. Then, tentatively, flipped it backwards. T'Solos, next in line, put out her own arm in case t'Dansen or Khif hadn't seen, and then began backing up. With a glance over her shoulder, Rilihka followed them.

When T'Solos heard the _tak tak tak_ approaching, she pulled Rilihka and t'Dansen against the wall with her, and trusted Khif to get the hint. Then she waited, hand on pistol.

The clicking and tapping grew louder. From one side of the crosswalk, little glowing status lights emerged. The flickering of occluded lights gave the impression of shoulder-high creatures, with many jointed legs — and the number of those lights seemed to indicate more than three in the group.

T'Solos held her breath and waited for the patrol to continue on or turn.

The robots slowed. They turned.

But not towards where _Kinaen_ 's crew were all trying to be one with the wall.

The robots went clicking and tapping in an indistinct stream, ponderously shifting their course to move further down the corridor, along the path that the Star Empire group had been traveling, vanishing into darkness.

When the last one had made the turn and its lights swallowed by the shadows, Rilihka turned her head and breathed, "Rio'?" — the last sound of it swallowed lest a puff of air be enough to catch the patrol's attention.

Staying still was obviously not an option; even if the patrol didn't double back, they had a time limit. T'Solos glanced back to see if Khif or t'Dansen had any ideas.

T'Dansen had her eyes squeezed shut, and was clutching one of Khif's hands in both of hers. Khif didn't even bother to shrug, or do anything but use his height to keep watch.

Well, the body-language didn't look like more than protective, and if it became a problem... It would only become a problem once they'd gotten back to _Kinaen_ and out of the whole ion storm mess.

So T'Solos made her decision on her own. "Intersection. Assess."

Quietly, all listening for the return of the patrol, they got to the intersection. T'Solos held Rilihka back and waved her sword out past the corner, and only let the Reman look around it once nothing had tried to attack the blade.

The corridor sloped down to the left, and up to the right. The robots had come from the upper path. And the lights were _not_ turning on, on that slantwise hall. On the curving one... a few panels brightened, as they hadn't for the mechanical patrol.

T'Solos bit her lip and murmured, "Let us follow them a few lengths. I do not want them at our backs. Perhaps we can take them from behind."

With some degree of misgivings — well-hidden by the Reman and her erei'riov, and more open on t'Dansen's face — her crew nodded, and they proceeded on. Slowly.

Keeping the patrol within earshot, but not quite sight, was nerve-wracking. The lights in the hallway brightened for them somewhat, and not for the patrol, so they couldn't use even that advance warning. Especially grating to T'Solos, they had to rely on Rilihka's ears; her own were simply not as keen. She was very glad to have the Reman with them, though, and kept her expression calm when she would rather have scowled.

They'd halted again in another dark intersection, to let Rilihka strain her senses for any hint of the patrol, when the light's quality... changed. It took T'Solos a few blinks to realize that this was light cast from down the hall.

And also from down the hall came the sound of phaser-fire.

T'Solos smiled and drew her pistol. Voice low, she said, "Shoot _only_ at the robots, everyone. T'Dansen, this means you especially."

"Sii-iir," the Turkanan protested, despite her prior opinions about Vulcans (and likely the humans who allied with them, as well).

"We don't want _Enterprise_ to mourn his crew," T'Solos explained, allowing some humor in her voice. "If there's a doorway, try to stay on _our_ side, everyone."

With the expected murmur of _Ie, sir_ in her ears, T'Solos took the lead, pistol in hand, and tried to move both swiftly and stealthily.

And in this, at least, she was rewarded. The doorway was a large arc in the end of the corridor, small spikes around its edges suggesting that it irised open and closed. Beyond was a starscape, with enough blurring and cracks to indicate it was one of the transparent sections between the station's snowflake-like projections. And as she carefully peered out from one side of the archway — a lovely scene of at least five robots, darting back and forth as T'nae and her three crewmembers fired upon them. In the light, the mechanical patrol was long-legged, round-bodied, and equipped with black, lashing cables that whipped about them as they tried to close with the _Enterprise_ 's crew. Their erratic movements made them hard to count, even with floor-edge panels illuminating them. In the dark, they would have been worse.

T'Solos switched her weapon to her left hand and crouched, to let Khif stand over her; on the other side of the archway, t'Dansen was the one crouching while Rilihka stood and held a pistol in her good hand.

"Pick targets, aim well," T'Solos said quietly, and swung around on one knee to follow her own orders: choose a robot; aim carefully; press the trigger-button.

Green plasma burst out, not quite synchronized, and two of the robots staggered. A third, its central sphere hit by a pair of plasma bolts, exploded, sending the rest of the patrol reeling away even as the Alliance group turned and dove away from the mess.

There were five remaining robots, momentarily still enough to count. Three of them turned themselves around, while the other two continued to approach the Vulcan Alliance group.

"First, right. Second, left. Third, all!" T'Solos snapped out, and shot at the robot in the lead. It wobbled, and she fired again — this time with Khif's shot also hitting. That stopped it, with smaller explosions rocking its body, though the long, jointed legs didn't let it fall.

"Oh!" t'Dansen exclaimed, and she and Rilihka synchronized their firing sufficiently to duplicate the effect.

The last one dodged and jinked enough that it was nearly on them — but with only one location that would allow it to enter the hallway, its evasion failed. Three shots took it, point-blank, and Khif came out from around the doorway long enough to slam the robot back with one foot before it exploded. He made it back against a wall — next to the other two — just in time. Shrapnel came through the opening, and heat that T'Solos could feel through her uniform sleeve, but she was unharmed.

"Thanks!" t'Dansen said.

"Boots reinforced," he replied.

T'Solos glanced around the edge again, in time to see the last of the robots go down in a shower of sparks.

The Vulcan Alliance lot were at least fifteen meters away. Far enough to indulge in firefights only. Close enough to see the wary expressions as they picked themselves up — the Bajoran only to a kneeling position — and leveled their phasers.

T'Dansen, also looking around the corner, said (in Terran), "And after we saved your butts."

The Alliance human squinted, pulled her head back, and said, offended, "Traitor!"

" _You_ ill-born abandoned us!" t'Dansen growled, and started to lift her weapon.

T'Solos murmured, "Don't fire. Hands back."

On the other side, T'nae said something as well. Her crewmember replied, and T'Solos caught "Turkanan trash."

So did t'Dansen. " _Terran_ trash!" she snapped, but at least kept her weapon un-aimed.

Humans. T'Solos didn't roll her eyes. Instead, she called out pleasantly, "Captain T'nae, have you been enjoying Kew's pastime?"

After a pause, the Vulcan woman said, "Have. You." It was, perhaps, meant to be a question.

"I have at least gotten to practice my sword-work," T'Solos replied, working hard to make her voice unconcerned. "I regret not having a tricorder with me, but I will rectify that in the future. Are you better equipped?"

"I see," T'nae said, "no reason to share tactical data with a Romulan."

Sparks of a realization kindled in the back of T'Solos' mind. She let them rest there, unattended. "As you wish," she sighed, and moved her right hand — hidden behind the door arch — to touch the glassy panel there.

As she had hoped, the door irised shut. Quickly, T'Solos stood and stepped enough away to draw her sword, adjust her grip and stance, and lunge.

The blade's tip struck the panel almost dead-center, and at little enough angle that it didn't skid. Instead... the panel shattered, sparking and gouting an evil-looking smoke. Nothing came up the weapon to where the grip and inner guard were coated with an insulating layer, to protect T'Solos from electrocuting herself with such maneuvers, and she pulled back with a wide smirk. Then, quietly, she said, "Come! We run. Let them wonder if we ambush."

As they broke into a lope, Khif said, "Hope there's not another patrol."

"Ie," T'Solos agreed. "But T'nae may well pursue, hoping we clear the way for her. Speed now."

She ignored his quiet _fvadt, fvadt, fvadt_ as they ran. It was on the exhales, so it wouldn't interfere with his breath.

At the next turning-point, T'Solos pointed with her sword, and they took the down-ramp, darkened though it was.


	6. Kew Chess

* * *

Darkened rooms and hallways, with unwoken robots or mysterious crates (that probably contained robots, knowing Kew), were all that greeted _Kinaen_ 's crew for a time. They stabbed a few more of the door-panels, hopefully wedging them shut, and continued on. Eventually, they paused in one empty room, perhaps six meters square, and divvied up the ration bar t'Dansen'd had. It would've been a full meal for one person, but with four... A mouthful of calories, and better than nothing.

T'Solos, the smallest, broke a bit from hers and gave it to Khif (largest) with ironic ceremony. He accepted it wryly.

"I could hand out the candies," t'Dansen offered.

"Have one yourself," T'Solos said, "but keep the rest for now."

She then shifted over to where Rilihka had sat down and examined the Reman's arm. The wound had definitely scabbed over, and didn't seem much warmer than Rilihka's skin in general. "How's that doing?" she murmured.

"Aches if I try to use it, but if there's poison..." Rilihka frowned. "It'd be slow-acting. I don't feel more tired than I'd expect, or fevered, or chilled."

"Sickbay for you as soon as we get back," T'Solos said, and hoped that would be soon.

"Ie, sir. Should we go on?"

T'Solos looked around at the others. T'Dansen was glumly massaging her own upper legs as she sat against the wall. Khif was on guard, pistol to hand while he knelt nearby. She herself was weary enough from adrenalin to be tempted to tap someone's stimulant.

"A few more minutes of rest. T'nae can't push her crew any faster than we're pushing ourselves, I wager."

Rilihka's slump indicated relief. T'Solos quirked an abbreviated smile and put her hand to her pistol in case of ambushes — or to become an ambush, if the Vulcan Alliance crew showed up.

"Riov?" t'Dansen asked after perhaps half a minute of silence.

"Mm?"

"Why'd Kew pick _us_?"

"Hm." T'Solos considered this. "It appears he picked one ship-commander, one sub-commander, a human, and another species from each ship-commander's crew. Likely this is his sense of fairness."

Her human said, "I kind of hope he's gotten bored making us fight robots."

"Mm," T'Solos said agreeably, while her mind drifted back to the patrol, and the faint realization she'd had during the encounter with T'nae's lot. The patrol had been more dangerous than the room-based robots. It had taken two shots in near unison to destroy each patrolling robot.

And Kew, from everything T'Solos had ever studied of the creature, usually had a _reason_ for his antics. Typically it was only realized after the fact, but the few times he'd not been there to utter cryptic statements that became clear at the last minute... it had been reasonably apparent he was there to socialize with some favored human or ship-commander.

These games might just be punishment for T'nae ignoring his warnings about the ion store.

T'Solos had a gut feeling that wasn't the entirety of the lesson. Unfortunately, her gut was more hungry than forthcoming with definitive answers. She sighed and heaved herself to her feet. "We'd best be moving on."

Her crew muttered their tired _ie, sir_ replies and began clambering to their feet as well. When all were ready, T'Solos took a step towards the middle of the room, and the door clearly visible in the far wall.

There was a white flash, and the floor — formerly dark gray metal — developed a set of tiled squares in red and white, flush against the walls to either side, but leaving a strip of normal surface for _Kinaen_ 's crew to occupy. The overall light brightened, making Rilihka pull up her hood crankily.

Across the far wall were two ranks of matte gray statues, or statue-like robots. The first rank were shorter, identical humanoids with round helmets and blank faceplates. Beyond them, the tallest two wore crowns — one with spikes, and one with little cross shapes. Next, two with pointy helmets, two that seemed beast-headed and three-legged, and a pair with little flat crowns atop their helms.

On the two ranks of squares in front of T'Solos, flat images flashed into being: stylized representations of the robots across from them, lit in green. She frowned at them.

Khif said, "It's... some kind of game board."

T'Dansen said, "Chess. It's a chess board."

"Human game?" T'Solos asked.

"Ie, Riov. The different pieces have different ways they're allowed to move, and they can take a piece by moving into its square."

"What is the winning condition?"

"I... I forget. Taking all the other player's pieces, maybe? No..." T'Dansen moved up beside T'Solos and pointed. "That one, the emperor-piece. He has to be trapped, so he'll be taken on the next turn no matter what he does. The one beside him is, um. Empress? Emperor's blade? She moves all directions, and is the most powerful. The fvai there can jump over other pieces, and land off to one side."

"Complicated," T'Solos said. "I wonder if T'nae knows the game?"

In front of her, one of the small warrior images advanced two spaces. The short robot before it mirrored the move, then drew two blades and held them level, pointing at each forward corner of the square it occupied.

"Can this warrior move into that one's square?" T'Solos asked.

"Um... no. _Pahns_ can only move straight forward, and they can only _take_ a piece if there's one diagonally forward. So they're blocking each other now, and threatening the diagonals beside each other."

"Simpler than that fiss-ben card game that goes around stations," T'Solos muttered. She stepped forward, across the cross-crowned image, and onto the square with the advanced warrior- _pahn_. Then, carefully, she attempted to edge into the robot's square.

Her boot, sliding forwards, stubbed into a transparent forcefield. It crackled angrily around her toes as whitish ripples came from the impact, damping out quickly.

"Mmmm-hm." She stepped back and drew her sword, then went down the row of _pahn_ -images, tapping the sword against the continuing force-field in front of them. When she got back... The advanced _pahn_ 's square was also unreachable, as there were no other _pahns_ in "touching" squares.

It was decidedly annoying for Kew to change the rules mid-game, but at least she hadn't been trapped.

"Sir!" Khif said, and pointed as a fvai-image slid past the pahn in front of it, and shifted one square over.

T'Solos hastened over and tapped at the air again — and again found it annoyingly solid everywhere except where the fvai had advanced.

With a crash, the fvai-robot jumped over its _pahn_ and mirrored the move again.

"T'Dansen, do you recall the rest of the pieces and their rules?" T'Solos asked, allowing some urgency into her voice.

"Um." She pointed at a flat-crowned one in the back corner. "Fortress. They move as many spaces as they want, forward and back, and side to side, but no turning. The pointy ones are the sages, and they move on the corners. Also no turning! The imperial blade moves like a combination of fortress and sage. The emperor can only move one space in any direction. Pahns can only move one space at a time, except their first move, which can be one or two."

The fvai-image began to move again, and this time Khif moved with it. When it came to a halt, he prodded around himself with his reinforced boots.

White ripples appeared to all sides — and the corners, which he tried as well.

"Well, fvadt," T'Solos said and gave him a chiding look. He shrugged.

One of the robot _pahns_ , on the end of its row, clanked forward two steps. T'Solos supposed that would let its fortress shift out, with two moves.

The second image-fvai began to shift, and t'Dansen bit her lip and hurried to walk with it.

T'Solos said, a bit sharply, "If you have a plan, inform your riov!" There was still time for the human to step backwards, onto the image- _pahn_ ranks.

"Taken pieces are moved to the _back_ of the board, I think, sir! Behind the player's pieces, and not on the board itself." t'Dansen said. "And there's a little room between the far wall and the squares! I don't know if the image side needs to win for us to get to the other side of the room, or if _we_ just need to get there!"

The robot fortress, for whatever reason, didn't start extricating itself. The gray _pahn_ in front of the robotic emperor's blade moved forward once, and drew its blades to point along the diagonals.

T'Solos frowned. "It's protecting the _pahn_ in the next row, and is protected by the _pahn_ behind?"

"And the blade, and the sage," t'Dansen said, pointing. "So if the fvai Khif is on tried to take it..."

T'Solos gritted her teeth and watched as the green image of a _pahn_ mirrored that position, and as the robotic _pahn_ in front of the fortress moved a step forward.

T'Dansen's fvai began to move. At the last moment, before it passed onto the next square, she hopped sideways, onto the square with an image- _pahn_.

"Well," T'Solos said. "At least that works."

Next, the robot sage, beside its emperor's blade, slid out to... threaten the image-emperor's blade? T'Solos frowned at the board, assessed whether any other pieces were guarding that piece, and stepped onto the square with the emperor's blade image. Then she waited for it to move.

It didn't.

Frowning, she considered the options, and decided to experiment. She strode forward, on the diagonal.

The shields parted for her, and the dagger-crown symbol followed beneath her feet. When she got to the place with the pointy-helmed robot sage, she put one foot into its square and waited.

The pause lasted a long time. Finally, she braced herself, put out her hands, and shoved the robot.

It fell over and exploded, shrapnel bouncing off the forcefields around it.

"I don't think Kew is playing by 'put them off the board' rules, t'Dansen," T'Solos said blandly. She drew her sword again and tapped the air around her square. As expected, she was now trapped on the square with the blade-image and the fvai in front of it.

Back behind the images, Rilihka said, "Sir, is there anything you want me trying?"

Another _pahn_ advanced, now threatening Khif's fvai. T'Solos said, "Perhaps try... contacting T'nae's group. And stay off the board for now."

"Ie, sir!"

Khif's fvai-image began to move, retreating. He tried to hold his ground, but was shoved backward by the forcefield. Painfully, from his curses. At the end of the fvai's move, it was back where it had been after its first jump.

There was a long pause. Rilihka exclaimed, "I have a connection, sir!" Before T'Solos could reply, the far-left _pahn_ clanked forward another step.

Clearly, from Rilihka's wrist-communicator, came a female voice saying, _"Why would he do that?"_ From the intonation, it was a very aggrieved T'nae.

"Rilihka, ask how good a chess player T'nae is!"

There was a quiet murmur. "The Bajoran says she's only average. Her first officer is suggesting the moves."

T'Solos frowned at the board, imagining what it would look like from above. "What if she moved the green emperor's blade diagonal-forward to the right, one square?"

More murmuring. "He says she can't do that, sir, because none of them are standing on the... empress? Empress' daughter? It doesn't translate."

T'Dansen said, " _K'wihn!_ That's the word. It's, um, one level below an empress? He means the emperor's blade-piece."

T'Solos looked down. The stylized dagger-sporting helm was beneath her boots.

"Oh, fvadt," t'Dansen said as the right-side image-sage moved forward once, diagonally.

The left-most robot fvai clanked forward and to the side.

"That's not good," t'Dansen said, walking back along the diagonal line of _pahns_ to examine the situation. "If it moves here—" (she pointed) "—it will threaten the emperor and the fortress, both. The emperor will have to move, and nothing protects the fortress. It'll jump in and eat it, and maybe get out again."

"Rilihka, tell them not to move until they explain why they can't move the blade-piece — the _k'wihn._ "

The Reman spoke urgently into her communicator, listened, and reported, "They can't move anything that doesn't have someone on it, and she's only got the one on the _nyt._ "

Exasperated, T'Solos said, "If the _k'wihn_ moves, then it will be connected to the _pahns_ , and she can bring someone else up — assuming she doesn't trust me on the fvai- _nyt_."

More relaying of the message, and Rilihka said, "The Bajoran says they'll worry about that after _kaest'ling._ The translator wants that to mean 'fortressing'?"

"I don't remember that rule," t'Dansen said, going over to the Reman. "Should I be talking to them?"

"I'd rather keep my hand on the communicator," Rilihka muttered. "But if you can make sense of these words..."

T'Solos turned partly, to keep an eye on both of the image-fortresses. Then, oddly, the image-emperor _and_ the fortress nearest to it... both began to move towards each other. "T'Dansen?"

"Uhhh..." The human shrugged broadly, chewing at her lower lip.

The images halted with the emperor on the far side of the fortress, each having moved two squares towards opposite sides of the playing field.

T'Dansen said, "The Alliance man says it's a legal move."

T'Solos didn't bother to reply as the farther fvai-robot (and what was a "nyt," anyway?) moved one square to the starboard, jumped over the fvai-image's square — Khif had retreated to a _pahn_ to one side of that, so he didn't have to duck — and landed on the _pahn_ image in front of the red-square sage.

It now threatened the far fortress, and would have also threatened the emperor, had the _kaest'ling_ not happened. The robot's head was definitely turned towards the fortress.

"Now ask why their person on the fvai — the _nyt_ — can't step onto the _k'wihn_ square and move it? Or why I shouldn't move it myself?"

There was more discussion. "They weren't sure if they could move from one piece's square to another, if they'd moved the first piece."

T'Solos second-guessed her first impulse, then decided it would hurt nothing. She slapped her hand over her eyes and forehead. "Then get them off that far fortress while I link us up again."

As Rilihka relayed the instruction, T'Solos stepped to her desired square, diagonal forward, threatening the _pahn_ in front of the robotic red-square sage.

The gray fvai-robot made a jump over the image- _pahn_ , landed on the other image- _pahn_ — which did not wink out — and then stepped onto the fortress-square, which did.

There was discussion from the communicator, as T'Solos readied herself to stalk forward and trap the robot emperor. T'Dansen said, irked, "T'nae says you stand on the _nyt_ — that's like an armored warrior who rides something — and her crewperson will move the _k'wihn_."

T'Solos suspected there would be _Enterprise_ crew on the fvai-square as well, and T'nae just wanted to see if she could get the "winning move."

After a moment, considering what she knew of Kew, and of T'nae, and of Vulcans in general, T'Solos stepped into the fvai's square and drew her sword. Her expression was, she knew, Vulcan-blank. Her gut was roiling with her hunch. "I've done so."

After that was relayed, with a certain amount of "yes, _really_ " snarking, the emperor's blade-image shivered, and began to move forward to take the _pahn_. With none of _Kinaen_ 's crew on the square, it seemed the image hesitated in front of the _pahn_ , and then the construct spontaneously combusted and fell to one side, in front of the robot emperor.

T'Dansen said, "They say _chek-mæt_ — it's the 'I win' phrase for the game."

If T'Solos hadn't been looking for it, she might not have seen the robot emperor shiver. But she'd been looking. Its head turned with a grinding of mechanical parts. T'Solos slammed her hand against the air — the force-field — that surrounded her, and felt the pins-and-needles sting as the white circles rippled from her blow.

The emperor-robot drew its sword — left-handed — and lifted one leg, all swifter than it seemed to T'Solos' duel-trained senses. She braced herself, and when its foot came down in the square with the blade-image, she flung herself into her fvai's adjacent square.

It worked. Her foot came down at that square's edge, while the robot emperor positioned its blade to stab, and she sprinted forward the two squares. She didn't bother stopping when she got to it, but slammed into the emperor — her blade beating against its a moment before her body's impact.

Then it was down, backwards across its former square, and she was sprawled atop it, right arm still twisted awkwardly to keep sword-upon-sword contact.

The robot's blank faceplate slid to one side. T'Solos was unsurprised to see Kew's features beneath it. Before he could speak, she said, breathless and polite, " _Chek-mæt_ , creature of Air and mischief."

"Oh, very clever," he said, and vanished in a white flash. T'Solos rolled off the robot before it combusted — which it did — and dragged herself to her feet. The other robot pieces were collapsing with tiny explosions erupting from their joints. "Come!" she called to her crew, and dashed for the door.

It opened into a hallway, leading down, with lights coming on pale and flickering. T'Solos waved her sword through it, glanced back to see Khif close by and the others behind him, and ran into the darkness — lights flickering on as she passed them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: while http://www.rihan.org/drupal/lessons/pronunciation would use "nh" for the "ny as in canyon" pronunciation — _nht_ /knight — I am transliterating to ny directly, to aid human readers in recognizing this "alien" word.


	7. Pelaere'u vr'Aeleir'yhfevenh

* * *

Her crew caught up to her at the next room, where she had paused to make sure the door didn't close behind her and lock her away from the others.

This was another wide room, and dim enough to let Rilihka push her hood back again. There was the door they'd come through — and another, off to T'Solos' right, in the same wall. The only other exit was ahead, and it was a rounded thing, like Cardassian make, but with a bubble of a window slightly above its center. Large, metallic panels were on both sides of it, one limned with a threatening pale green light, and the other with a flickering reddish one.

Along the room's other two sides were tall, open lockers, with vacuum suits within.

Once her crew was within the room, T'Solos sheathed her sword and told them, "Find suits that seem space-worthy, and see if they have air tanks."

The three of them scattered to the nearest locker-side, while she darted for the ones on the further end.

"Fvadt!" t'Dansen swore. "These are suits from _Kinaen_!"

"Have they air?" T'Solos called over her shoulder.

"Ie, sir!"

"Good. Start getting into them." She considered the suits in front of her, which all bore the planet-and-triangle of the Vulcan Alliance. Blue-and-green planet for Terra, the triangle for a Vulcan IDIC. She folded one suit over; air-tanks, and reasonably full.

With a small smile, she turned off the valve and unhooked that tank, setting it down in front of the locker.

She'd done that to one of the others when Khif, suited save for the hood, came to her. "Riov?"

"See if you can get those other tanks off and _into_ their matching suits. Don't vent the air. Don't damage the suits."

"It'd be easier to keep them from following if we just destroyed the suit, wouldn't it?" he said.

"Orders, Erei'riov!" she said, dashing back across to the side where Rilihka and t'Dansen were holding T'Solos' own suit ready for her. It even had the tube to drop a sword into, and she did, before clambering into the thing.

There would be no point in making it _impossible_ for _Enterprise_ 's crew to follow. Kew favored that ship. He'd just fix destroyed suits. But a bit of uncertainty and delay? T'Solos smiled again as she got the helmet fastened and the comm channel open on it. All the status lights were a reassuring blue. After a moment's thought, she kept her sword at her belt, in case she needed to detach it quickly, rather than shifting it to the back-sheath position.

Once everyone else had their helmet on, she went to the round door with its bubble-like window, and pressed the side-plate with the ill-colored green outline.

There was a pause while the green light flashed brighter. T'Solos pondered whether she should have touched the other panel as well, or instead, but then the door irised open — the window attached to a single leaf of the set, that didn't retract fully like the others and had to be stepped over.

T'Solos did so, into what was fairly clearly an airlock — and one without gravity. She activated the boots magnetics with a chin-flick... and they didn't cling. "Fvadt," she said, disengaging the magnetics as she floated slowly away from the entry-door. "There's nothing to stick to."

Helmet's lamp sweeping past her, Khif said, "Handhold just behind you, sir."

With a twist, she spotted it and grabbed hold. "Khnai'ru rhissiuy," she said, in full formal thanks. She looked around as well. "They're a bit far-spaced."

Khif was probably stifling a grin as he caught at one, and used his longer reach to hand-over-hand past her, then reached out. "I can swing you forwards, Riov."

"Khnai'ra again," she said, less formal and more wry, and took his hand.

The other two followed, with Rilihka and t'Dansen helping each other in a similar fashion, so neither had to push off and risk missing the grab. They were being careful of Rilihka's injured arm, but the Reman woman winced once while T'Solos was glancing back.

The door closed behind them. Suit instruments registered the loss of atmosphere, and the dropping of temperature — not to the coldest it got in space, but quite enough that moisture on the suits froze before it sublimated off.

The other side of the airlock didn't have a window. T'Solos got to it, noted the panels — one red-rimmed, one green — and said, "Everyone, safety-line together. Khif, anchor as well."

Everyone pulled the cords from their suit-belts and clipped themselves into a line appropriately. Khif braced and yanked on his handhold, then clipped his shorter secondary-cord to it.

Once that was done, T'Solos pressed the green-limned plate.

It opened immediately, onto a stretch of empty space between them and the next curve of the station's hull. It was lit in reds and oranges by the planetlight, and as she watched, a white circle brightened and gleamed across from them. She pushed herself a little through the airlock door and saw the answering lights on the surface around it.

"If we string all our safety cords together, Riov, I think one of us can make it," Khif said.

T'Solos wished again for a tricorder, and better measurements. She thought of Kew again, and what amued him. "Humor my paranoia," she said, with her riov's pronoun that made it a good-natured order, and not a mere request. "Adjust the safety lines so that everyone is using both secondary and primary cords. To maximize the length between us."

Her Turkanan and Reman immediately set to work. Khif, with both lines already in use, said, "Riov, I don't understand."

"I have my suspicions about the _exact_ length of the gap," she said. "And..."

After a moment, into her silence, he said, "Riov?"

"It is... instinct, perhaps." There was a reason, too fragile to give words. Something about each time they'd met the Vulcan Alliance crew. Something about Kew's preference for _Enterprise_ , and his oblique warnings. Something about the rules for that _chess_ game. "Later."

"Ie, Riov."

Last in line, if one counted from Khif, T'Solos clipped her primary line to t'Dansen's secondary. "Now," she said, pointing, "we shall have to get across. By jumping. In a line."

Despite helmet lamps shining in her eyes, T'Solos could tell that they were all gawping at her. "It may take a few attempts. First I shall jump. Then, as the line becomes close to complete, t'Dansen. Likewise, Rilihka. Khif may jump a little, but must remain tethered, to pull us all back in as needed."

Khif said, "I am glad I took a stimulant before I got into my suit."

This was probably an oblique expression of his horror that his commander, the Blade of the Star Empire and right hand of the Empress, was a lunatic. T'Solos ignored it. "Come, let us get onto the surface here and get into position."


	8. Kew Uvhæuri Atsaen

* * *

It took longer to synchronize the jumps than T'Solos liked. Fortunately, with Khif at the entry for the vacuum-side of the airlock, the _other_ side wasn't willing to open. Khif reported seeing signs of movement from the room with the suits, but no hostile _Enterprise_ crew showed up to do battle with them.

As Khif reeled everyone in after their third attempt, T'Solos floated stoically back — and light caught her eye. Some distance along the length of the station-segment they were aiming for... a white circle glimmering into existence. She twisted slightly, and saw the answering circle on their own segment.

She said, voice-activated microphone broadcasting to the others, "It seems our airlock is not the only one." She pointed, as her crew looked to her, and then did their own twistings to see what she indicated.

Khif's voice came through the speakers: "Should we go engage them, Riov?"

"No. I think we have the knack for this now."

Still, having to wait for the not-too-swift retrieval was... frustrating. Better than breaking a limb, being pulled back too swiftly to stop gently. But frustrating. She took it out on the Vulcan Alliance lot by waving when they noticed her and pointed.

One of the figures made as if to come clomping over to them, but halted at some unheard radio-command. Instead, there was a huddle over there, with at least one eyeing the _Kinaen_ crew at any given time.

Finally, they were back together. (And t'Dansen hadn't bothered to try to make any rude gestures.) Khif said, "Any changes to our procedure, Riov?"

The Vulcan Alliance group were doing something with their suits' safety-lines. T'Solos frowned idly as she thought, gloved fingers tapping against her encased sword's suit-tube.

She paused. Looked down. The sword's tube had clips, yes, but also magnets; transferring it from back to belt, or vice versa, might have to be done quickly, and fumbling with clips to secure it to a new position took time. Time they had, briefly; she unclipped it from her belt and hooked her secondary safety-line to the clips. "No changes for anyone else," she said, taking the tube in both her hands. "Ready?"

T'Dansen said, "Third time's the charm?"

"It's the fourth," Rilihka pointed out.

T'Solos said, "Then the Elements are complete, and fourth for success. On the sixth beat."

They all crouched, and T'Solos murmured the count: _One-two-three-four-five-_ and _-jump._

Once again, she soared out into the space between the station-parts, with the eerie red-orange light and a target of a white circle. This time, she held her sword against her collarbones and sought the calm of the fencing ring, when all would be movement without thought.

T'Dansen's jump was good; there was no jerk backwards. T'Solos spared a distant glance at the _Enterprise_ team; it seemed two of the figures were seeking to catapult a third across the gap.

It wasn't impossible that trick might work. Vulcans had an uncanny skill with numbers, and if muscle and math combined to get the right angle on the first shot... T'Solos had overshot the curve of the station on the third attempt (the first two spoiled by failures of the others to jump before the lines jerked taut and began bouncing back). Having the surface be _just_ out of range of a questing boot, seeking to magnetize itself...

Well. It was raw skill against practice and cunning now. Hopefully she and her crew had enough of the latter to get the edge they needed in this race.

Rilihka's jump was well-timed, though muttered oaths suggested she didn't like her angle. No help for that; the suits weren't equipped with reaction-mass for EVA, and wasting air on attempts to use that for steering...

Well, the pilot T'Maekh might be both wild enough and good enough to do it, but T'Solos didn't want anyone else trying such stunts. Including herself.

Khif's voice came to her: "Soon to jump, Riov."

There would be only a few seconds before Khif's secondary line went taut. And as before, she was on a course that overshot. Less than before, but even if she twisted... No. Not close enough.

She shoved outward, sending the sword-tube off on its line.

Khif said, "Jumping!"

Fluttering seconds, like nei'rhh wings, were slow agony.

The sword touched the station's hull.

It slid a moment.

It stopped, visually clicking into place as the magnetics secured the tube to the hull.

Then came the jerk as Khif's secondary line went taut and the material stretched and pulled back in a ripple effect.

The ripple pulled at T'Solos' secondary line, and thus the sword-tube.

It slid again. One of the magnetics broke free. The other, further from where she'd attached the cord...

Held.

It was clearly a fragile tether. It took more than one try to breath out, "The sword has one magnet attached to the station. Patience. Stillness."

Her crew's whispered acknowledgements were equally tense. They spun gently, waiting to see if the tension on the safety lines would break the hold they had.

T'Solos saw the _Enterprise_ 's crewperson had missed their first jump and was almost ready to try again.

Finally... The sword-tube's magnetic was holding, but there wasn't enough slack in their safety lines to try to get it fastened by both.

Well, there was no help for it. Being a flagship commander meant the occasional foolhardy tactic.

T'Solos said, "Hold fast, everyone." Then she unbuckled her belt, that held the ends of both safety lines. Her pistol was also on it, encased in a protective envelope.

It really wasn't enough mass, but it was what she had. With one glove around the safety line, she calculated angles and threw the plasma pistol away.

For every action, the equal and opposite reaction.

For tiny mass, imperceptible movement.

But if the cord was stiff enough, that motion might travel down its own low-mass length and nudge the second magnet back into range of the hull.

(If this didn't work, perhaps she _would_ attempt the air-hose trick.)

Again, over at the other airlock, an _Enterprise_ crew-being was boosted into the gap, trailing lines that were hooked together.

It was possible that one would make it this time.

She frowned; there were only three of the Vulcan Alliance lot visible now. The two "boosters" and the one drifting through the gap.

In T'Solos' hand, the cord twitched. It seemed something flashed, lighting her suit-glove with more than planet-glow. She craned her neck around to see.

The second magnetic had clicked down. Both now secured the sword-tube to the hull.

Hand over hand, trying desperately to not cause any jolting actions that might dislodge their tether, T'Solos moved towards the other side.

Her questing foot touched the surface.

Suit magnetics engaged, even stronger than the sword-tube's.

With both feet planted on the station and both hands death-gripping the safety line, T'Solos said, "Khif, unclip on your end. I'll give everyone a pull now."


	9. Daehhra-Rhe

* * *

One could not pull too hard, in zero gravity. Mass was mass. T'Solos didn't want her crew breaking their legs trying to absorb the impact when they got to this side of the station.

This gave plenty of time to watch the Vulcan Alliance crew succeeding on their own third try.

Then, emerging from that airlock... A transparent rescue-bubble, being maneuvered by one of the crew.

T'Solos asked, on the comm, "Can anyone see who's in that bubble?"

T'Dansen replied, "I think... I think it's their riov, sir."

"Oh, that's clever." T'Solos scowled at Vulcans being clever. "She can get out of that faster than I can get out of this suit."

"You should go in, Riov," Khif said, instantly.

"Not till Rilihka has boots on the surface. I won't trust the sword-tube's magnetics when we're not anchored elsewhere."

It was t'Dansen who said, voice small, "Riov, if it's us against the ship—"

T'Solos cut her off. "We don't know what other hurdles Kew has set for us. That 'chess' game could not have been done by one person alone. If I need to stand on Khif's shoulders and come back and find you're all drifting towards the moon, then we've lost anyway."

Khif and t'Dansen gave meek _ie, riov_ replies.

Still, twitchily, T'Solos edged closer to the white-ringed doors that mirrored the airlock they'd come from. There was a dim green-ringed plate near it. When she had enough slack in the cord, she leaned down and pressed the thing, to get a head start on cycling the lock.

The green ring around the plate dimmed and brightened like a little glowing insect flying through a tube. That was probably an indication that it was preparing to open the doors.

The Vulcan Alliance group were latched onto T'nae's rescue-bubble now, and instead of waiting for their far anchor-crew to pull them in, had jumped for the other side. The "anchor" was clomping hastily to their own nearby airlock, presumably to try to get the safety-line latched onto something before the rest were in danger of overshooting and dragging their "anchor" with them.

Rilihka touched down shoulder-first, on her bad arm's side, but was only somewhat hunched as she got her feet under her and properly stuck to the hull. "Go, Riov," she said.

The airlock door had irised open. Leaving the sword-tube behind, T'Solos entered and pressed the panel on the other side. Then she began swinging herself along the handholds as air and light began rising around her.

She missed the third handhold and, resigned, impacted the wall beside the door. It was annoyingly graceless, but at least no one else was there to see, and she didn't manage to knock the breath from her chest.

This door, too, had a bubble-like window in the center. T'Solos peered through it, into another room with empty suit-storage lockers hanging open. This room was smaller, and better lit. Happily, it appeared to be entirely free of robotic enemies or patterns on the floor — especially since the door irised open unexpectedly.

Her suit registered breathable air on the other side, and a temperature that was only chill. T'Solos swung herself in quickly, so her crew could get into the 'lock as soon as they touched down, and started pulling at her helmet as she strode across the room to the door beyond.

It slid open as she approached — again, unexpectedly sensitive compared to prior doors. She was pulling her helmet off and was forced to yank it faster (her ears did not appreciate it). Then she paused, holding the helmet in her hands.

There was a ripple across the doorframe, like water or the forcefields. Beyond it seemed a vine-filled forest: trees branching out like coral fans, bushes as dense as walls, vivid sprays of flowers.

She poked the helmet into the ripple, in case something happened to it or the forcefield blocked it... but no, there was only the faintest resistance.

With a sigh, T'Solos put the helmet down in the doorway to hold it open (hopefully) and stepped through, one hand working on the fasteners for her suit. It didn't provide enough protection to be worth the loss of agility.

The room beyond was far, far bigger than any room had a right to be, and T'Solos suspected this was a blatant display of Kew's powers. The tallest canopies, far above, blocked more than an impression of light, too bright to look at for long; it filtered down into a green glow, and some of those flower-clusters were also illuminating.

Thankfully, nothing seemed to be moving through the underbrush or flying about. Insects would have been concerning, and she didn't have a weapon she'd want to use against aggressive animals.

There was a faint sound to her right, a bit like the swoosh of a door. T'Solos pondered the wisdom of trying to peek around the bush on that side, and worked to be even more silent in getting her suit off.

Unseen, but her voice distinctive, T'nae sighed, " _Kew._ "

The sound and flash were equally distinctive. "You called, _ma chérie_?"

"I am tired of your games, Kew," the Vulcan riov — _captain_ — said, with a touch more emphasis than was probably logical. "This... this _forest_ is impossible."

"Isn't it _grand_?" the energy being said, and T'Solos imagined him twirling around, arms outstretched. "I'm so proud of it. And beyond it is the control room!"

After a long pause, T'nae said, "Explain."

" _Ma chérie,_ you never _appreciate_ me!" He paused (perhaps for T'Solos to chime in, but she was too busy shedding her spacesuit to want to reveal herself to her rival), then continued, "There are three doors to the control room. Two of them are up _there_!"

Through the dense canopy, white lights flashed blindingly. Those doors, apparently, were rather high up.

"And the third?" T'nae asked.

"Oh, it's down there." Another flash, at ground level, along the center line between the upper two.

Another long moment, while T'Solos struggled not to fall over or make noise while extracting her boots from the suit. Then T'nae said, "And the trick?"

"There's no trick!" Kew replied. "You just open one of the three doors and get to the control room!"

"It cannot be that simple," the Vulcan said, which was the most sensible thing she'd said in the entire conversation.

"It's very simple. You just have to push the panel beside the door you're next to!"

After another pause, the right-hand upper door's location became a blinding, steady green for a few seconds, and the lower door... Half green, half red.

Kew said, "Oh, that's right — the _other_ panel has to be pushed as well, at the same time, if you want the bottom door unlocked too."

The realization — _fvadt!_ — was a stretched moment. T'Solos, partly bent to get the second boot free, flung herself to the dirt-and-moss ground.

A phaser beam lanced through the bush above her.


	10. ...u'Fvænnh

* * *

T'Solos sprawled, fingers digging into the surface below her. The ground in the room was a shallow layer of dirt over... stone? Metal? A mesh-like weave of roots? She didn't have a lot of attention to spare. _Of course the Vulcan would be so paranoid._ She was glad that T'nae wasn't wasting her phaser's power-cell by strafing the area — especially since T'Solos' suit was still clinging to her foot.

She tried shoving the suit off with her other boot, succeeded, and discovered that whether or not her suit's helmet was in the middle of the forcefield, the energy didn't want to let anything _else_ move backwards through it.

Delightful. It was just as one-way as she'd feared.

Well, with no weapons and no backup yet, she didn't really want to wait for T'nae to show up _or_ decide to burn down her part of this forest-room. And from the sounds, the Vulcan was coming in her direction — cautiously, but not stealthily.

With a scrabble-creep that involved her elbows as much as her legs and hands, T'Solos went forward, aiming for a tree large enough to hide behind. The sound of someone moving through vegetation got louder, though, too fast; she got herself behind a fairly thick bush as the next best thing.

The Vulcan captain pushed through the undergrowth at the back of the wall, her primarily white uniform the worse for wear. For a moment, the green of the plants obscured the large blood-green splotch across one side of her tunic. A bit of squinting, and T'Solos thought the tunic — and probably part of someone else's — had been half-sacrificed to turn into bandages.

She remembered the chess-emperor's sword thrusting towards empty air, before she parried. Perhaps T'nae hadn't been able to dodge in time. No surprise the Vulcan captain had wanted to be right there; taking every advantage was always a Vulcan trait, as much as a Rihannsu one.

T'nae put out her free hand and pressed the panel beside the archway. Lights flashed green and red across the leaves, though T'Solos had her back to the doors there.

Somewhere up and to T'Solos' left, Kew's voice called out, "Remember, they have to be pressed at the same time! And the doors are only unlocked while the panels are being held down."

T'nae's expression was blank and strained as she began to turn. She hesitated, seemed to lock eyes with T'Solos in her cover, and brought her phaser to bear.

"Fvadt!" T'Solos rolled away. The weapon whined behind her, kicking up heat from the ground. Burned leaf-smell followed her as she scurried behind a tree. In momentary safety, she touched her wrist-comm and barked, "Weapons on stun! Careful through the door!"

A phaser-shot clipped through the side of the tree — clearly _not_ on stun — and she recoiled. The momentum was good for running further into the "room," weaving past bushes and saplings. She added into the comm, "Two doors, two panels, control both for easy passage! Control one for climbing!" It would hopefully make sense when they got in.

Somewhere behind her, T'nae's clipped voice was telling her crew, "The Romulan captain is present. Her crew may be close behind. Reinforcements are necessary."

T'Solos called back, in Terran, "That's _riov Rihanha,_ Vulcan!"

T'nae's only response was another phaser-blast, though it wasn't well-aimed.

_Rude deadsoul,_ T'Solos mouthed. She threaded between trees, ducked under limbs, and paused at one large specimen. It begged to be climbed, really, with limbs shooting out in all directions, at levels low enough for even a short little Rihanha to manage.

Best not to turn down invitations, in this Kew-created space. And hopefully the tree was sturdy enough not to wave around and reveal her presence — and T'nae seemed wounded enough not to catch up with her. T'Solos jumped a bit, scrambled onto the first branch, and began pulling herself upwards.

She'd gotten several body-lengths above the ground when there was a flash of light and Kew appeared, seated on one of the branches. "Are you enjoying yourself, _mademoiselle_ riov?"

"This game is very interestingly crafted, creature of Air and mischief," T'Solos said, as politely as she could while a touch out of breath. "Perhaps the Vulcan Alliance is behaving unsportingly just now, though."

"Vulcans are always so _stodgy_ ," Kew said, almost pouting.

"If I might make a suggestion, wise trickster?" She switched from formal-equals pronouns to inferior-to-superior, though it rankled.

"Oh, now you're flattering me." He looked away, as if embarrassed.

She continued to use the deferential pronouns. "Perhaps you might fix the Alliance's weapons to stun for them? I am concerned they may forget."

"Why, _mademoiselle_ riov!" he gasped. "Are you asking me to _cheat_?"

"I would never do that, Kew." For she had some suspicions already. "I only worry something might happen that spoiled your game most carefully crafted."

"You have a point," he said, and continued too quickly for hope to kindle, "but if I do everything for them, how will they _learn_? I can't treat them like children forever. Picard would have made _such_ a fuss!"

_Ffff- **vadt** ,_ T'Solos thought, and tried to marshal another polite request.

Kew vanished in a puff of light, an instant before a phaser-blast came through his position.

Apparently he wasn't getting disintegrated today.

Still, time to move. T'Solos worked on scurrying up the tree as if her ancestors had been born to it instead of to desert rocks. More phaser blasts sounded, but none got through the tree, thankfully.

After a moment, the Vulcan captain said, voice clipped, "If you wish to surrender, you may do so. My crew will be here shortly."

_As will mine,_ T'Solos didn't answer. She looked over her shoulder, and narrowed her eyes.

There was the upper door. There was the far-too-exposed ladder leading up to it. And there was a branch _overhanging_ it.

She looked up, tracing the branch to its tree. Tracing... a pattern. Had it been there before? Perhaps. There seemed a lot of trees that had the easy-to-climb patterns of limbs, now that she could look down from above.

T'nae's voice suggested she was coming closer, but warily. "My crew saw you throw away your pistol."

More likely one of them had seen her throw _something_ , and T'nae made the obvious conclusion, since T'Solos hadn't been shooting back.

She would have liked to've confused the issue with commentary, but that would let T'nae pinpoint her location. Instead, T'Solos continued to climb.

"You're unarmed. You can't get to any door without being seen. You've lost, Romulan."

_Rihanha,_ T'Solos thought, and also thought that T'nae was doing a very bad job of trying to demoralize her. Perhaps the Vulcan was trying to encourage herself. After all, T'nae was wounded and her opponent seemed to be chatting with Kew in a friendly manner.

From back at the door, there was the sound of energy weapons. Rilihka called out, "Weapons on stun as ordered, Riov! Tap your comm if you change your mind!"

Now was probably a reasonable time to reveal her position; she'd be changing it quickly anyway. T'Solos called, "Over here! T'nae's weapon deadly! Stun anyway!"

T'nae's frustrated hiss was audible. Then weapons-fire came from much closer, and T'Solos thought pleased things about crew who made a diversion while someone else snuck forwards.

She had no weapon but herself, and thus clambered up. Up, up, up and sideways, to cling to a forked branch and then jump over to the next one and run the single next pace along till she could smack into the trunk and cling to that next. Bits of bark got under her nails, but phasers and stun-blasts were behind and below and not shooting _at_ her.

She got herself down to a branch a little lower and to the side, more bark under her nails and the chain of her rank-harness gouging the tree in return, and swiped a thumb on her wrist-comm. "Defend our door area for... for another few minutes. Or take theirs. They mustn't have both till I say."

Rilihka called out, "Understood, Riov!" The louder acknowledgement was a valid choice, as she was probably shooting and thus couldn't easily get at her own comm. Especially with one arm injured.

So there was nothing else for T'Solos to do but try to get to that branch, and hope her crew could withstand the _Enterprise_ crew. As she scrambled about, scratching her hands and cheek, she caught glimpses of the others.

Khif and T'nae exchanging fire — his aim spoiled by her more lethal blasts, but hers hampered by her wound. T'Dansen creeping along in the bushes, heading towards that noise. The Bajoran moving more quickly, further away; they weren't going to intersect. She couldn't see the entry-doors, but the noise continued, suggesting that even if Rilihka had moved away from theirs, she was keeping the area unsafe to approach.

Finally, T'Solos got to the overhanging branch. It was not so thick as she might have liked, and had no convenient upright forks to cling to. But it did reach almost to the cliff-like wall in which the door was set. With a sigh, she sat down on it, legs crossed underneath to grip the limb as tightly as she could, and began working on the fasteners for her rank-chain.

It took both the chain and her belt, to encircle the branch and then make sure there was a loop for her to grasp. She was just glad she didn't have to sacrifice her jacket as well — especially considering most of her undershirt was still around Rilihka's wounded arm.

She was about to signal Rilihka when there was a scream.

T'Solos looked back, and down, leaning over. T'Dansen struggled with the other human, the pair kicking and writhing as they tried to pin each other down.

Khif lay upon the ground, unmoving. T'nae stood nearby, trying to aim at the two human women as they wrestled.

Not letting herself feel anything, T'Solos murmured into the comm, "Fall back, Rilihka. Pretend you don't want to."

From the other side of the room — or whatever this was that Kew had made — Rilihka called something. T'Solos couldn't hear it over the closer shrieks of rage from t'Dansen as she clawed at the other woman with more fury than skill.

_Need more combat training for the translators and science specialists,_ came the cold thought.

The Bajoran came running up and shot into the mess with enough casualness that at least _he_ had his weapon set to stun. Both humans went limp.

T'nae said, "You found the lower door?"

"It's clear, sir," he replied.

The Vulcan paused. "Go take the other entryway. Both panels must be pressed at the same time."

_You are lucky Kew did not add heavy fruits or dead limbs for me to throw, deadsoul,_ T'Solos thought, keeping her heart's Fire compressed and shielded. She tucked up her legs as much as she could and laid herself flat along the branch. She couldn't lean about to look at Khif. It would reveal her position. She couldn't warn Rilihka; T'nae might hear.

It took forever. Even though T'nae _knew_ T'Solos had climbed a tree, the Vulcan didn't think to look all the way up. The captain put her back to the lower door and surveyed the clearing in front of it, glancing from side to side to, presumably, make sure no one came running for the ladders. T'Solos watched through one eye, the other side of her face pressed against bark, and wished for a weapon.

There was more energy fire. Shouting — the Bajoran, from the accent. A long moment where perhaps there was speaking and perhaps not.

T'nae's communicator-badge chirped. She tapped it, not taking her eyes off the places from where, presumably, she thought T'Solos might tackle her. "Report," the Vulcan said.

_"We have both doors, sir,"_ came the voice of the other Vulcan. _"The Reman surrendered and is disarmed."_

"Press the door panels," T'nae ordered.

T'Solos took a breath. Gripped the belt loop tightly, wrists up. Braced her feet against the branch and shifted her weight.

The upper door flared green, the white force-field clearing away.

She kicked herself forward and down.

Bark and twigs shattered, stripped away by the chain as she swung around, now carried backwards and looking over her shoulder to make sure she didn't miss the opening.

The branch dipped down with her weight, more than she'd hoped. At least she was short. She pulled up her feet and twisted.

The chain hung on the last bit, tangled somehow, and she hit knees-first, tumbling awkwardly and not converting nearly enough momentum from _down_ to _sideways_. Abraded hands met the floor and protested. Her chest impacted next, and breathing was, for a brief moment, more important than anything else.

She gasped in air, forced herself up, crawling, then scrabbling, then staggering, and finally running despite the protests of a very upset knee. It held her up. That would have to do. If she bounced off the walls in this narrow corridor, so be it.

The end of the hall loomed, and the opening in the floor was clear. So was that it contained a slide.

Instinct guided her, and she dove in, arms first and belly down.


	11. Yhfevukhe Klaretaen'eri

* * *

The tunnel was ill-lit by occasional rings of gray light. They strobed past in an uncanny effect, just long enough for T'Solos to second-guess her head-first choice.

Then the tunnel veered more sharply down and opened out into a flickering grayness.

It was no surprise that she landed on T'nae, as the Vulcan was pelting along her own route. Inconvenient for them both, but not a _surprise_. T'Solos yelped anyway, wrist twisting as they hit the floor together, and heard T'nae hissing in pain as her wounded side took the hit from Rihanha hips.

T'Solos didn't waste breath in polite apologies. T'nae still clutched her phaser, and wouldn't be pinned belly-down for long. T'Solos got a knee under her, shoved forward, and grabbed for the phaser with her good hand. T'nae hissed again and wrapped her other hand into T'Solos' tunic, trying to pull her closer.

Being sat on by a Vulcan was not desirable. Wrist strained or sprained, it was able to work enough with T'Solos' good hand to pry the foolishly-shaped phaser from the Vulcan's fingers, only shooting the wall behind T'Solos. The scent of burnt hair was faint.

There was no time to figure out how to put it to stun. She got it into her good hand and threw it back down the corridor that T'nae had come from. Then she kicked the Vulcan in the shoulder — aiming for the face, but missing as the woman twisted away. At least she'd released T'Solos' tunic.

T'Solos kicked out again. T'nae tried to grab her ankle, but her other heel clipped the Vulcan's forehead. She recoiled, and T'Solos shoved herself away on her elbows, then rolled to hands and knees to start scrabbling forward.

T'nae didn't tackle her. A glance over T'Solos' shoulder showed the _Enterprise_ captain wheezing to her feet, body-language a still-pic of indecision: go after her phaser, or go after T'Solos?

The door at T'Solos' end of the hall opened. The room beyond was familiar, its walls filled with dark flat-screen displays. Barely visible were the edges of two holographic ships projected above the central consoles.

The view decided T'nae, and her footfalls were loud behind T'Solos.

T'nae's longer legs meant T'Solos was unsurprised when the Vulcan tackled her around the waist, landing them both in the open area between the two ship-projecting consoles. Out of breath, fending off attempts to get at her neck, and trying to kick T'nae in the face again, but not surprised.

 _She just has to stop me,_ T'Solos knew. But T'nae wasn't fighting as if _she_ trusted her crew would be soon behind her. It was the cornered-hnoiyika fighting that Vulcans resorted to when logic and nerve-pinches failed.

Rihannsu fighting had never left that place, and if T'nae had longer arms, T'Solos had her back to the ground and her _legs_ worked, twisted knee or no. Frustrated Fire, compressed by politeness and humoring Kew, exploded in her mind, and she spent glorious seconds trading punches for kicks and attempts at grapples for attempts to claw the other woman's eyes out.

The round rim of a hologram caught T'Solos attention, despite T'nae about to dive down on her again.

 _Fvadt!_ They were under _Enterprise_ 's image. And T'nae—

Lunged for the console, not T'Solos.

Panic rolled her onto one side, one knee, and the other out as if to kick her into a sword-fighting lunge — directly into T'nae's wounded side.

The Vulcan staggered back, eyes wide, reflexively clutching at her wound. Then she glanced up, towards the door they'd come in by, and all but flung herself in front of the other console, where _Kinaen_ 's image hovered.

T'Solos got herself on hands and knees and jumped as best she could, sprawling through the holographic _Enterprise_.

" _Get her!_ " T'nae snapped, as footfalls thundered closer.

There was a green-rimmed panel just beyond the _Enterprise_ 's holo-projection.

T'Solos smacked it.

The entire console lit green, and the hologram vanished.

Phaser-fire sounded and she flinched away, hitting the ground and trying to scrabble for the end of the console, to hide behind it. But as she looked...

T'nae's Vulcan subcommander stared at the forcefield that blocked him from entering the room, lips tight with Vulcan irritation. He attempted to shoot something beside the doorframe, and shields rippled whitely, blocking the phaser-beam.

T'nae herself glared at T'Solos. "What. Did. You. Do."

"Removed _your_ win-condition," T'Solos said, and hoped very much she was right. "You, the commander of that ship, cannot release it. Because I already did. So... all I have to do is release _my_ ship. And I'm not going to faint from blood-loss."

Whether the green stain on T'nae's bandages was spreading... Perhaps it was just the light, but her dark skin looked ashy. She stated, "We have your crew as hostages."

"Kew has over seven hundred of my crew as hostages in this game. You have three. Two if Khif is dead." It was the wretched calculus of command. "So long as that shield is there, it's just us. And of us, you're more wounded."

T'Solos watched T'nae's expression, for all the minute signs that even Vulcans had, when under enough stress. And, as she'd hoped, the calculation of command, and risk, meant...

T'nae reached out and slammed her hand over the green-rimmed panel beside _Kinaen_ 's hologram. It was perhaps more force than necessary, but undoubtedly the Vulcan captain's judgment was slightly impaired.

The hologram vanished. The lights went out entirely.

Behind them both, someone started clapping.

T'Solos half-turned, and let herself show every bit of how tired, battered, hurting, and _small_ she was. Let tears show in her eyes and worry clog her voice. "O Air and mischief... Erei'riov tr'Vrihahan?" Let Khif have his family's name, in front of T'nae and perhaps the Vulcan subcommander. " _Kinaen_?

A spotlight illuminated Kew, and he waved a hand. "Oh, everyone's _fine_ ," he said. "That really was a clever move, _mademoiselle_ riov. I'm impressed!"

Not trusting her pronouns, T'Solos gave a slight bow, good hand to her shoulder. "It is an honor to hear such praise."

Behind her, T'nae said, "My ship is unharmed?"

"Well," Kew said, "there's that little problem with the nacelle..."

T'nae's voice was clearly using a great deal of emotion-suppression. "If you caused that storm, Kew—"

"So suspicious! I'm wounded!" The energy being clutched his chest dramatically.

T'Solos broke in. "If we have amused, creature of Air and mischief, might the nacelle be repaired, once the storm abates?" For she surely did not want _Enterprise_ whole before _Kinaen_ could safely cloak and leave the area.

"T'nae," Kew said, gesturing with both hands towards T'Solos, " _why_ is the Romulan the polite one here?"

The Vulcan said, "Romulans are adept at, as humans say, _sucking up_ to the powerful."

It was greatly tempting to stride over and punch the other woman in her wounded side, but T'Solos' knee twinged as she shifted her weight. She pretended she hadn't thought of anything but standing where she was. "I am surprised logic does not yield the same... civility," she said instead, with pronouns-superior to address T'nae. To Kew, she returned to the (galling) pronouns of deference and said, "I fear we have not learned the lessons you wished, creature of Air and mischief."

He looked between them both, mouth in a frown and shoulders... Disappointed. "No, I suppose not," he said, and snapped his fingers.

White light filled her vision.


	12. Ei'krih

* * *

Without the console to lean on at all, T'Solos lost her balance and was caught by familiar arms. Carefully, her chief engineer, a gray-skinned Reman woman, let her slide into the command-chair. "Riov," Teilia said, while her Horta burbled nearby. "When the tractor beam loosed _Enterprise_..."

"Kew said: the first commander who freed her ship won. I made it impossible for _her_ to free _her_ ship." Bruises and strains made themselves extremely known. T'Solos pushed past their complaints to say, "She took a moment, realizing her need for freeing mine."

Teilia moved aside, tapping her comm. "Medical to the bridge," she ordered.

Not just for T'Solos, she saw. Rilihka sat cross-legged and blinking below the main viewscreen, while t'Dansen and — Elements be praised — Khif groaned and tried to collect themselves from a sprawl. The erei'riov had barely enough time to brace himself before t'Dansen had given a wordless cry of relief and crawled into his lap at speed.

The man put one arm around the human's shoulders, and looked about. Upon meeting T'Solos' gaze, his expression became... Well, apparently the situation was complicated. She gave him a small, wry smile and was slightly relieved when he took that as permission to rest his cheek against t'Dansen's head. The awkwardness of a _possible_ ended relationship, in the future, was less than that of a current one-sided infatuation, from a riov's perspective.

Especially a battered, tired, hungry riov, who had yet one more bit of civility to muster, to impress Kew (if he was still looking) and annoy T'nae. "Someone, hail _Enterprise_ and express the polite hope that their crew and captain have returned. Teilia, has my chef been fussing?"

"You've missed at least two meals, sir," the Reman said, blandly.

"They can be sent to Medical. Wake Erei'riov t'Reha, if she's not already. If _Enterprise_ becomes hostile after all, we'll need you at the engines."

"Understood, sir."

T'Solos let herself settle in her chair further, while others obeyed her orders. She murmured "good" when someone said, " _Enterprise_ reports their people on board, sir." When the medics came, she waved her good hand at the three others, and warned them of Rilihka's wound and the risk of poison.

And, finally, she allowed them to put her into a wheeled chair and take her into the lift, and to her Medbay. (Where, for at least a few moments, she could look up at the ceiling and feel weirdly at peace. The nutrient drink they handed her, while scanning and treating her wrist and knee, was warm and comforting.)

An erein brought news that _Enterprise_ had formally, via their own subcommander, sworn to a truce lasting till the ion storm faded. She thanked the young man and informed him that she was ordering herself to take a nap, unless an emergency threatened.

She dreamed she told Kew that at least she'd tried, but upon waking, was fairly sure that was just a dream.

=====

Released to her own quarters, she sat at her console and began scribing the whole mess for the logs.

_My Empress,_ she appended, in the sealed part of the records, _I am concerned. He of Air and mischief most concerns himself with the Vulcan Alliance, and with setting puzzles before mere mortals that are, when looking back, something close to helpful. It seemed he confirmed it, at the end. I believe his desired lesson was **cooperation**. I fear first that the Andorian Coalition sits upon some dire plot, and combatting it will require a truce between the Star Empire and the Vulcan Alliance. I request Your orders bidding me travel to the Coalition border and see what I might find there, if this concern is not already addressed._

She'd closed that, and queued the whole matter for a transmission as soon as it was safe, when the door chimed.

"Tabrai," she said, and the door slid open. She smiled at the only Klingon on the ship, a junior quartermaster with ambition behind her terse deference, and currently with a bundle in her arms. "Koren. Someone said I'd lost my pistol?"

"Ie, Riov." The young woman moved to the desk and deposited her burden. "Sword, recovered. Pistol. Scanner. Waterproof bag. Contains undergarments." It also, plainly, contained room for the pistol and scanner as well.

Ruefully, T'Solos said, "I'll not ask how you knew I'd want all this."

The Klingon pushed her braids back and lifted her chin. "A quartermaster _finds things out_ , Riov!"

"Someday," T'Solos predicted, "between you and Teilia, I'll be nothing but a figurehead, outside of combat."

"A good riov knows who runs her ship," Koren agreed, and left without fanfare.

_That one should command her **own** ship,_ T'Solos thought. But the Senate would have collective heart failure at the idea, so she could not suggest it today.

Instead, she gathered her waterproof bag — the undergarments included gripping socks as well — and put the scanner and pistol into it. Then she added a knife and ration bar from her own stash and carried the whole thing off with her to the fresher. Just in case Kew decided to drag her somewhere while she was bathing.

###


	13. Translations, Notes, Etc.

* * *

Where I have been unable to find anyone else's word for something, I have, in the grand tradition of fanficcers, Made Something Up — usually by smushing some close-but-not-quite words together.

### Chapter Titles

1: 1: Notes and Prologue - Ne Haud u'Hra'nuar Fviudhevha  
2: Nhraikhumædet Kivoi Rhill'le - Rude Awakening (lit. "to become awake unwillingly, because of rudeness")  
3: Jolan'tru, _Enterprise_  
4: Na Brisaerai Shhii'delarius - The Game's Win-Goal  
5: Ssuaheahaiin - Hints  
6: Kew Chess - (Q Chess)  
7: Pelaere'u vr'Aeleir'yhfevenh - Prepare for (a) Spacewalk (Space-movement)  
8: Kew Uvhæuri Atsaen - Q Perhaps Cheats  
9: Daehhra-Rhe - (a) Puzzle Room  
10: ...u'Fvænnh - ...And Combat  
11: Yhfevukhe Klaretaen'eri- Stalemate (lit "(intentional) Stillness Opposed")  
12: Ei'krih - Home

### More Notes

• I think I mentioned in a Notes that allegedly Romulan doesn't transliterate anything to Q. But hey, Kew is close, right?

• Yes, Q is wearing a main timeline TNG/DS9 outfit. Yes, the Vulcan Alliance uniform is white-with-color instead of black-with-color. No, I'm not going to explain that.

• Hint is a conglomeration of understand+tickle: (v) ssuahea. (n) ssuaheahaiin

• I was horrified that I had to generate a term for "stalemate," as it seemed a warrior-culture like the Romulans would totally have something for "we are not attacking each other because we aren't sure who'd win."

• At least this story is shorter! Yay?


End file.
